The Glass Menagerie Questions

Bring on the tough stuff - there’s not just one right answer.

How is "The American Dream" presented here, and what comments are made on it? Is it an unrealistic dream? Detrimental?

How does Williams’s "plastic theatre" – that is, the exaggerated music at key moments, the obvious lighting tactics, the over-dramatized nature of, well, the drama – support the content of the play? Is this a good play to use "plastic theatre" techniques for?

How does the epigraph comment on Laura or the overall themes of the play?

With all this denial flying about the place, what are these three characters hiding from each other? What do they try to conceal from the audience, even? From themselves? How do their interactions with each other cause friction with respect to their hidden demons?

How does it work to have Tom both narrating the action and participating in the action? Do you trust him as a narrator? Does it change the way you see the play?